Hospital patients are typically supported atop patient supports, for example, hospital beds, during the patient's stay in a hospital. Traditionally, hospital beds have employed head, seat and leg platforms, or sections, most often serially hinged to one another to allow, for example, upward and downward pivoting of the head section, upward and downward pivoting of the leg section, and the like. Such adjustments are necessary to provide for patient comfort during the patient hospital stay.
In addition to movements of the hospital bed patient support platforms, in order to maintain patient comfort, additional supporting devices have also been employed in conjunction with the hospital bed, most notably pillows. For example, pillows are positioned under a patient's head and atop the hospital bed mattress, which is positioned atop the patient support platform, to provide for additional patient comfort. Other pillows may be positioned, for example, in the lumbar area of the patient's back, or under the knees, calves or feet, again atop the hospital bed mattress.
One problem associated with using pillows as such ancillary support items is that during shifting of the bed positions, i.e., upward and downward pivoting of the head section and upward and downward pivoting of the leg section, as well as during patient shifting atop the hospital bed, the pillows tend to become dislodged and must continually be replaced by care providers to their original position. Such is time consuming and creates an uncomfortable situation for the patient during the interim in which the pillows have become dislodged.
A number of modern hospital beds now employ specially designed treatment mattresses which support a patient and which bathe the patient with many small streams of cool air to provide a number of different types of therapeutic benefits. For example, low air loss mattresses are being employed which bathe the patient with many small streams of cool air to greatly reduce the tendency of patients to develop pressure sores. Such mattresses may also include pulsing effects which further help to constantly shift the areas of pressure applied to a patient's skin as the patient is supported by the mattress. In addition to low air loss mattresses or surfaces, numerous other specialty surfaces are being employed. For example, fluidized and dynamic surfaces, which include the use of liquid, air or gel media, or foam with air that passes through the foam, may be used.
Another problem in the use of traditional pillows with hospital beds which employ such specialty surfaces is that by placing a pillow atop the specialty surface between the surface and the patient's head, for example, the qualities and benefits of the specialty surface are in effect defeated. For example, in low air loss mattresses, when a pillow is placed between the low air loss surface and the patient's head, the low air loss feature in the scalp area is essentially totally eliminated. As the scalp area exhibits a rather high degree of skin breakdown due to pressure sores, it would be desirable to be able to retain the low air loss feature, yet at the same time to provide for ancillary supporting of the head, or other parts of the body, much like is done with traditional pillows.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a hospital bed or other patient supporting surface with an integral support which does not shift during movements of the hospital bed and movements of the patient atop the hospital bed.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a support for a hospital bed or other type of patient support which can be used in conjunction with specialty surfaces and which does not negate or destroy the therapeutic effect of the specialty surfaces.